Searching for the right balance between the highs and lows of diabetes

Where have the past 9 months gone?

Since 2014 is nearly 3/4 over, and the days are getting shorter here in North America, I suddenly found myself considering the things I had wanted to accomplish this year. How have I done? Have I crossed enough off of my list? Am I a better person than I was on January 1?

This year started like a lot of others for me. I’m not a resolution-maker, but whenever I reach a milestone like the beginning of a new year, I try to think of some things I would like to do, or be a part of.

There have been many successes, and a few failures, but overall, it’s been great. Probably the first thing I could say is: I’ve learned a lot this year. I’ve learned how to be a better advocate. I’ve learned how to speak to people about my diabetes, and diabetes in general. I’ve learned a lot about the regulatory process, I’ve learned even more about how artificial pancreas technology works, and I’ve picked up valuable knowledge from the rest of the Diabetes Online Community. Lots of support and encouragement too.

I’ve continued to hand out medals to People With Diabetes who bravely train and achieve athletic goals that sometimes seemed unreachable. Every time I get a new request, I get so excited I want to do cartwheels and handsprings (but I don’t, because that would be a huge athletic fail). I get even more excited when I get to write about it and show off someone’s picture wearing the medal. As much as I get out of it, what I really hope is that someone sees a story and goes off on an athletic quest of their own. That is awesome and inspiring. There are not enough great adjectives to describe the feeling it gives me deep in my heart.

Still, I have my own athletic endeavor on the books. I’m still going to try to get in a short triathlon of some sort before the end of the year. October is a great month for it, but I’m not making any promises yet because frankly, I’m in horrible shape right now. But as people are fond of saying, it’s not always how fast you go… finishing and doing your best is a victory in itself. I really hope I can still get there.

What else have I left undone? I still want to organize a regular in-person diabetes meetup in my area. I think I got too busy to concentrate on it for a while, but I also can’t discount the worry that it will be a big bust and no one will show up. Oh well… screw it. I’m doing it anyway, because maybe people will show up, and if it turns out they won’t, at least I’ll know I tried.

I also can’t deny the feeling that I’m searching for the next thing I can do. Something… I don’t know what. I know that sounds incredibly vague, but I don’t have an idea what that is yet. I just know that when I’ve felt this way in the past, something has always popped up to grab my attention for a while. I just need to leave myself open to whatever is going to show itself over the next few months, because I really feel like something will. I’ll let you know if it finally hits me.

I’ve read about people going through amazing experiences this year, and I’ve read about people working through tough times, taking care of themselves the best they can for a while. Each of those scenarios involves victories, even though on the surface they don’t appear to be equal at all. So what about you? Are you feeling good about 2014 so far?

Comments

It looks to me like you’ve done a lot of amazing things already this year. IRL meet ups can be hard, because it seems to me people want them but then don’t show up (for a variety of reasons). But I say give it a shot anyway – even if you make just one connection it will be worth it!!

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